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Donny Donowitz
Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz is a member of The Basterds. He was nicknamed The Bear Jew for his notoriety of using baseball bats to smash the heads of the commanders in The Basterds' numerous assaults on the Army around Nazi-occupied France. Biography Deployment Not much is known of Donnowitz's early life other than that he was born in Boston, MA of the United States of America. Under a Jewish family, Donnowitz soon grew angry with the mass murder of his people in Europe. Originally going to be shipped to Japan as a member of the United States Army, he was transferred to his excitement to be shipped out to Europe. Before leaving, Donnowitz obtained the heaviest baseball bat he could find, and began collecting Jewish signatures on his baseball bat. (One of them is none other than the notorious Anne Frank). The last Jewish-American person he got a signature from was an elderly woman known only as Mrs. Himmelstein according to early renditions of the script. She refers to him as "A real Bastard." Story Chapter Two - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Donny Donowitz joined the Basterds along with 8 other soldiers and was dropped into the French countryside some times before the beginning of Operation Overlord to spread chaos through the German ranks. He is soon known by the German soldiers by the nickname "Bear Jew" and gained notoriety for killing prisoners with a baseball bat. Adolf Hitler, outraged by the Basterds' success, suggested that the Bear Jew is a golem. Chapter Four - OPERATION KINO Right before D-Day, the Basterds cooperated with the British Lt. Archie Hicox and German actress Bridget von Hammersmark in Operation Kino, which aims to assassinate the Nazi high command in the premiere of "Stolz der Nation", which is held in Shosanna's theatre. He expressed his skepticism over Bridget's rendez-vous place, a basement tavern called La Louisiane. After their mission is compromised, he is seen at the vet clinic, holding a Luger pistol at Bridget's thigh, as Aldo interrogates her. When Bridget shows Aldo the movie tickets they were supposed to use to join the film premiere, Donny is seen reading one. After she reveals that Hitler himself will attend the premiere, Donny shouts "Fuck a duck!" in amazement. When Aldo decides they must attend the premiere, Donny tells Bridget that both he and Raine speak some Italian. Aldo decides that he'll pose as the escort and Donny the cameraman, with Omar as Donny's assistant. Chapter Five - REVENGE OF THE GIANT FACE The trio pose as von Hammersmark's Italian friends, carrying suicide bombs. It should be noted that while Donny's Italian is supposedly not as good as Aldo's, he actually tried to disguise his native accent, unlike Aldo who said his lines in a very thick Appalachian accent. Bridget von Hammersmark was later killed by Landa, and Aldo and Utivich are transported to a closed bar, where Landa negociates his surrender in exchange for allowing Operation Kino to continue. Duting the film, Donny leaves his place to see if Hitler has arrived. As he looks at his opera box door entrance, guarded by 2 soldiers, he suddenly sees the Führer himself exiting the door and asking one of the guards for some gum. Thrilled, Donny returns to the auditorium and calls Omar to come with him. The duo enter the bathroom, where they plan to kill the guards, take their guns and kill Hitler. He tells Omar after he kills one of the guards, he has 30 ft to kill the other one. Donny disguises himself as a waiter, concealing his OSS Glove pistol under a towel he cut with a concealed knife. Just as he shoots one of the guards in the head with the concealed gun, Omar jumps in and kills the other. After Marcel ignites the nitrate film pile, Donny and Ulmer burst into Hitler's box, emptying two MP40 magazines on Hitler and Goebbels, with Omar doing the same to Francesca. They then proceed to shoot at the audience below, not knowing that the doors were locked by Marcel. Donny empties his last magazine in Hitler's face, just in time before the bombs go off killing everybody in the cinema. Trivia *Before Donnie Donowitz appears from under the bridge, he taps the bat against the walls of the tunnel a total of 28 times. *Donowitz talks about "Teddy Ballgame" in Chapter 2. This is one of the many nicknames for Ted Williams, who in addition (arguably) to being the greatest hitter who ever lived, was also a war hero who interrupted his baseball career twice to serve in WWII and the Korean War. *Donny takes Butz to Aldo, yelling to him "Two hits, I hit you, you hit the ground". A phrase very similar to this one, "Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor" was pronounced by Andrew Bender in the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club. *In a scene in the movie theater, Sgt. Donny Donowitz uses the alias "Antonio Margheriti". This alias is named after cult Italian director Antonio Margheriti (director of such films as Cannibal Apocalypse), one of Roth's and Quentin Tarantino's favorite directors. *When Donny and Omar fire their machine guns on the crowd in the auditorium, the scene is similar to the memorable final scene of Scarface (1983) directed by Brian De Palma and starring Al Pacino. *A deleted scene reveals the origins of The Bear Jew's bat. This scene was still in the film during the screening at the Cannes Film Festival. *In the original script is revealed more about the past of Sergeant Donny Donovitz. Shortly before leaving for the front, Donny who works as a barber in the living room of his father in Boston, went to a store in his neighborhood to buy a baseball bat, heavier than they have, and goes to his neighbors and friends, asking them to write on the bat the name of a loved one who lives in Europe and is in danger. The first person whom he visits is Mrs Himmelstein, who writes the name Madeleine. The flashback about Donny was to appear shortly before the killing of Sergeant Rachtman. The scenes appear for a few moments in the extra "room angel" on the DVD.http://www.tarantinoitalia.altervista.org/Inglourious%20Basterds%20Trivia.htm *One of the Jewish names carved on The Bear Jew's bat is Anne Frank. *In the bathroom, Donny tells Omar that he has "30 feet meters to get to the that guard", however the distance Omar is seen sprinting from the bathroom to the opera box door is about half that (about 5 meters). Behind the scenes Donny Donowitz was played by Eli Roth. Eli Roth put on 35 pounds of muscle to play Donnie Donowitz, "The Bear Jew". Roth also learned to cut hair for the role from producer Pilar Savone's father Umberto at his salon in Beverly Hills. Quentin Tarantino approached Adam Sandler to play Sgt. Donny Donowitz, but Sandler had to turn it down because the schedule conflicted with the filming of Funny people. Eli Roth's character, Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, is part of the Tarantino-verse, sharing the last name of the film producer character, Lee Donowitz, in the Tarantino-written True Romance, where Lee Donowitz produced a war film "Comin' Home in a Body Bag". According to an interview Tarantino conducted with Ron Bennington, Donny is Lee's father. When asked how he got into the violent, baseball bat-wielding mindset of "The Bear Jew", Eli Roth partially attributed his performance to the historically accurate costumes: "Being in wool underwear will make you want to kill anything." He also stated (in a separate interview) that his girlfriend had secretly added some Hannah Montana music onto his iPod; when he listened to it, it inexplicably made him able to tap into the violent nature of The Bear Jew. Eli Roth and Omar Doom were nearly incinerated filming the fire sequence in the theater. During tests the flame temperatures reached 400 degrees Celsius, and during the take the set burned out of control and the temperature of the ceiling above them reached 1,200 degrees Celsius (2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.) Quentin Tarantino was seated on a crane operating the camera in a fireproof suit, and none of them wanted to back down and ruin the shot. Fire marshals said that another fifteen seconds of filming and the steel structure would have collapsed, incinerating the actors. Roth and Doom were treated for minor burns. Gallery Inglourious Basterds Aldo & Donny.jpg|Donny looks at the Basterds. Donny Donowitz Bear Jew smiles.jpg|Donny smiles. Donny fires his sawed off shotgun.jpg|Donny fires his sawed off shotgun. Donny Donowitz aka The Bear Jew comes out of his cave.jpg|The Bear Jew. Donny comes with his bat to beat Werner.jpg|Donny comes to beat Werner. Donny Bear Jew with his baseball bat.jpg|Donny Donowitz a.k.a. The Bear Jew. Rachtman beaten to death by Donny.jpg|Donny keeps beating Werner. Donny beats Werner to death as all the Basterds watch.jpg|Donny beats Werner to death as everybody looks. Donny Donowitz aka Bear Jew and his baseball bat.jpg|Donny threatens Butz with his bat. Aldo Raine and Donny Donowitz trunk shot.jpg|Donny admires Aldo's "drawing". Donny sits on a matress holding a knuckle knife.jpg|Donny with his knuckle knife. Aldo Raine, doc and Donny in the hospital.jpg|Donny takes the doctor away. Donny points his gun at Bridget's leg.jpg|Donny points his Luger at Bridget's leg. Aldo Raine and Donny Donowitz look at Bridget.jpg|Donny and Aldo look at Bridget. Bridget and the Basterds.jpg|Donny and Aldo intimidate Bridget. Bridget and Donny look in her purse.jpg|Donny looks in Bridget's purse. Aldo and Donny look at Bridget's tickets.jpg|Donny looks at Bridget's ticket. Donny Donowitz says Fuck a duck.jpg|"Fuck a duck!" Donny tells Bridget they speak a little Italian.jpg|"We both speak a little Italian." Donny looks at Bridget von Hammersmark.jpg|Donny looks at Bridget. Hirschberg, Stiglitz and Donny fire their MP40s.jpg|Donny, Stiglitz and Hirschberg fire their guns. Bridget, Aldo, Donny and Omar see Hans Landa.jpg|Donny with Omar, Aldo and Bridget see Landa. Donny and Omar look at Landa.jpg|Donny as Antonio Margaretti. Omar and Donny look at Landa.jpg|Donny looks at Domonick Decocco. Hans looks at Omar, Donny, Aldo and Bridget.jpg|Donny tries to fool Landa. Omar and Donny in the cinema.jpg|Donny looks at Goebbels's box. Omar and Donny look at the other opera box.jpg|Donny and Omar looks at the other opera box. Omar and Donny look at each other.jpg|Donny and Omar look at each other. Omar and Donny go to their places.jpg|Donny and Omar excuse themselves. Donny and Omar wait as their bombs tick.jpg|Donny and Omar wait for the fireworks. Donny leaves the cinema room.jpg|Donny leaves the cinema. Donny Donowitz goes to see if Hitler has arrived.jpg|Donny enters the scene. Bear Jew smiles.jpg|Donny smiles. Donny calls Omar.jpg|Donny calls Omar to come with him. Omar and Donny exit doors.jpg|Donny and Omar go to kill Nazis. Donny points at Omar.jpg|"Can you do it?" Donny's knife.jpg|Donny's folding knife. Donny's Glove Pistol.jpg|Donny takes his Sedgley OSS .38 pistol. Donny tries to mimick a waiter.jpg|Donny as a waiter. Donny offers some water champagne.jpg|"Champagne?" Donny shoots guard with his OSS Glove pistol.jpg|Donny shoots the bald guard. Donny and Omar fire their MP40s.jpg|Donny and Omar fire at Hitler and Goebbels. Donny and Omar fire from the opera box.jpg|Donny and Omar shoot the Nazi crowd. Donny and Omar fire at the panicked crowd.jpg|Giving the Nazis their live action film. Donny and Omar reload their guns.jpg|Donny and Omar reload their MP40s. Donny Donowitz fires an MP40.jpg|Donny fires at the crowd. Donny's bomb explodes.jpg|Donny's bomb about to go off. References Category:The Basterds Category:Characters Category:Americans